When Futurama returns to the airwaves Thursday, time-traveling loser Fry will still have that familiar squeak in his voice.
That's because the original voice actors who bring the animated series' characters to life are on board for the series' rebirth, despite a brief panic last year when 20th Century Fox's hardball negotiations threatened to recast the show to cut costs.
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Futurama Re-Enters Orbit With Death Spheres, Robosexual RightsVeteran actor Billy West – who voices Fry, Professor Farnsworth and Dr. Zoidberg, among other characters on the sci-fi comedy – says he feels better than he ever did about the show, whether during its original run on Fox, its life-support syndication on Adult Swim or the four straight-to-DVD Futurama movies.
"There are more laughs in this season than any I ever remember," West told Wired.com by telephone ahead of Thursday's hour-long Futurama season premiere on Comedy Central. "They're killing, and we're dying laughing at the table. The show is funnier than I seem to remember it."
In the interview below, the voiceover artist geeks out on Futurama drama, including whether slacker antihero Fry really deserves the affections of kick-ass spacefarer Leela (voiced by Katey Sagal), and why studios should kick unworthy celebrities off animation's blockbuster gravy train.
Wired.com: What did you think of Fox's negotiation tactic, which put the cast in jeopardy?
Billy West: I think it was just high drama. It's all business. It's silly. It's full-blown adults pretending at each other. "OK, we have to recast ..." Like it's that easy? You're just going to happen to find a bunch of freaks who can do what we do? And then they're going to pull the plug on the show to put a scare into us?
Wired.com: It seemed desperate and ridiculous, kind of like the show's cancellation.
West: I always knew the show was too good to be dropped. It's just too good. It's like, "How is this possible?" It's my favorite thing I've ever done. It has a high rewatchability factor. There's a lot of stuff you don't catch, so you go back and catch it.
Wired.com: What have you enjoyed most about playing Fry all these years?
West: The constant test of whether I'll be able to do him. I'm practically 50 years old, and have to come up with this adolescent voice every week. [Adopts Fry's voice] But I'll do it as long as I can do it!
Wired.com: Does Fry deserve Leela? Now that they've finally hooked up, is it going to be weird to have to come up with ways to keep them apart for the sake of narrative tension?
West: It's in the hands of greater minds than mine. I've loved everything the writers have come up with so far, because it's so calibrated. We're changing lines every day, putting in new ones that are funnier. The writers work so hard and are so funny. So I want to execute their intentions as best I can.
Wired.com: Now that animation is blockbuster biz, do you think voice acting is an underrated art?
West: It's absolutely an art. But you have an industry that's tailoring characters to the people they want to play them. If we come up with something cool, they'll save it and give it to Alec Baldwin. I don't mean to target Baldwin; he's pretty cool. But they'll find any celebrity who's out there and say, "Want $20 million to play a character just like yourself?" They don't have to create a character, which invalidates what we've been doing.
And I know why that is: We're going to have 3-D TV very soon. It'll be great, but we'll have no programming. All the 3-D movies coming out now are going to have a second life on TV. And just because there is no more live action doesn't mean we're going to give up our precious star system.
Wired.com: I take it you're not a fan of some of the animated films that have been fast-tracked for the mallrats.
West: There is a strange disparity, spending zillions on the highest tech to make a believable movie whose voices don't measure up to that tech. They flatline. There will be a day when we don't know who these people are. What the hell?
Wired.com: How is your art different than theirs?
West: The idea is to start from zero, just like a writer does. They show you a picture, describe what you are looking for and you have to rise and build something out of nothing. But just coming in and being who I am? I bitch about celebrities doing voices for movies because, talk to people in their 20s who want to become voiceover artists, and what do I tell them? They're about to enter an industry that doesn't exist. The notion that studios will put more asses in the seats if they have celebrities doing voices, well there's no evidence to support that.
Wired.com: I think the continuing success of Futurama, South Park, Avatar: The Last Airbender and other stellar animated series puts the lie to that premise.
West: Any rational, thinking person would go, "Why didn't they just get my plumber to do it? Or my cousin Mike?" What is Brad Pitt when he's a disembodied voice? My brother. No offense to my brother. When you think about it and boil it down, they can't see the forest for the trees. You're giving people millions of dollars to come in and be who they are. It's a dying art.
Wired.com: Who are some of the greatest practitioners of that dying art?
West: I look to my peers, because they make me better than I am. I'm in awe of people like Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche and Dave Herman. Eddie Murphy understands characters; he knows how to change his voice. Mike Myers understands multiple-character work; he can separate who and what he is. Same with Robin Williams. Those are the actors who know how to do voice work. Those are the ones I respect. It's like getting a letter from home.
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